Pharmaceutical Production Scheduling

Day-to-day production scheduling in an international pharmaceutical company

Daily production scheduling can be fraught in any manufacturing environment. The inter-relationship between processes and resource conflicts in many pharmaceutical operations makes the task especially demanding. In this case study we learn how one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies is using Orchestrate each day in a production facility producing vaccines and self-injected prescription medicines.

The process - a study in complexity

Biopharmaceutical vaccine production is characterised by complex processes involving a large number of intermediate solutions. In this instance, there is an added dimension of multiple trains operating simultaneously, many of which share resources. Multiple stages and multiple products vying for the same space in the manufacturing suite. It involves hundreds of discrete activities to be performed, solutions to be made and cleans to be carried out on bioreactors, columns and filtration systems, all in a 24/7 environment that involves 200 people. The manufacturing plant is hard piped, so everything has to be finely synchronised to work optimally.

From spreadsheets…

The ubiquitous ‘morning production meeting’ had previously been dominated by Excel spreadsheets prepared and maintained by four full time planners for one product set and a further three for the second. Each had an intimate knowledge of specific parts of the production process, involving many hundreds of discrete solutions and activities. Because of the complexity, the rolling plan could cover only a week ahead, updated daily to accommodate all the unforeseen events that had happened in the previous 24 hours. The process was laborious, taking a whole morning each day, the separate plans lacked detail and engineering had to be planned informally between planners and engineers. It was not uncommon for electrical engineers, mechanical engineers and equipment to turn up for planned maintenance, only to learn that the schedule had changed and production was in process.

… to automation and full visibility

Having installed Orchestrate production scheduling software, the company reports that the process is so much smoother and more effective. Using fewer schedulers, the daily rolling plan now covers a four week period, rather than one, and takes only an hour to complete, instead of a morning.

A company director comments: “Particularly important, communications have been revolutionised. Everyone in the facility has access to the plan from shift managers and supervisors to shift engineers and engineering planners.  Giant touch-screen smart boards are sited on the floor and user screens provide access around the plant. A real-time ‘single version of the truth’ available to everyone, in an environment where processes take place in multiple rooms. A major benefit from improved communications has been significantly smoother shift changeovers.”

A senior planner describes the improvements to engineering planning: “Where maintenance had previously been performed as an ‘add on’, it is now fully integrated. Maintenance activities determined within our SAP system are now fed into Orchestrate, which schedules (and more importantly re-schedules in light of unplanned changes) maintenance tasks into non-production slots. The same is true for calibration of equipment and unplanned requests for downtime. Everyone informed.”

Implementation was smooth too. Recognising that most people are resistant to change, the Orchestrate production scheduling plan is displayed in much the same way as the old Excel spreadsheets, except it is now possible to burrow down into detail. A six week parallel run was planned to accommodate the change from old to new but, in practice, reactions from users were so positive, the parallel run was dropped after just a few days.

Last word comes from the plant director responsible for vaccine production: “For me, visibility is the biggest single win; everyone having access, whatever level of detail they need. That alone fully justifies the system.”

Pharmaceutical Capacity Planning

Major international pharmaceutical company uses Orchestrate production scheduling software to drive strategic initiatives

A number of pharmaceutical companies who use Orchestrate as their day-to-day production scheduling and capacity planning tool are also exploiting its functionality to address key strategic issues. In this case study, we visit a plant belonging to one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, where Orchestrate has been employed in two major initiatives. The first, to boost productivity, significantly increasing capacity for the years ahead while using existing facilities. The second initiative is using Orchestrate’s modelling capabilities in a multi-million project to rationalise production, moving plant from one continent to another to create a ‘greenfield’ site.

Boosting capacity

The production team responsible for a group of self-medicating products within the plant were faced with the challenge of increasing manufacturing productivity. Orchestrate production scheduling software proved to be an ideal tool because, in its day-to-day scheduling role it had automated and build-in all the deep practical expertise of schedulers who understand  the plant, the way product moves through it, and the complex conflicts that exist with shared equipment and sequencing.

A company director explains: “Having put all the process basics into Orchestrate and having enhanced it, with help from Production Modelling, we were able to extend it to become a modelling tool capable of exploring ways to optimise the use of the facility. We were able to identify bottlenecks, to plug in fixes and build ‘what if’ scenarios in a true modelling sense. We then embarked on carefully chosen projects in which we already felt a high level of confidence using orchestrate in a day-to-day scheduling role. We knew they would work.”

“We have just completed a twelve month programme, removing bottlenecks and optimising the plant and have achieved a 20% faster throughput. We are now going into 2012 with higher capacity using exactly the same resources. That would have been impossible using traditional spreadsheet-type planning and scheduling tools.”

Manufacturing rationalisation

Like so many pharmaceutical companies, this multination is seeking to consolidate manufacturing into a smaller number of plants. The vaccine in question has a number of sub-types, currently manufactured within different sites in different continents.  The plan is to concentrate production within one site.

It has not been possible to accommodate the sub-types within existing facilities, which has meant completely rebuilding and recommissioning an existing suite, resulting in two separate suites.

The company has used Orchestrate to secure an understanding of how things will look day-to-day in terms of activities and in terms of resourcing. A future snapshot, as well as resource and capacity planning.

They have been able to model requirements for the next 5 years, as well as visualising the mix of products to arrive at a realistic plan of action.

The director responsible has extensive experience of such projects and comments: “Traditionally, spreadsheets such as Excel have been used to plan such activities, typically using a common server to provide an element of shared functionality. The difficulty with such an approach is that it is limited essentially to a chart comprising coloured squares.”

“Orchestrate has provided a wealth of information behind that. It’s possible to drill down to hours, minutes, seconds, rather than being restricted to crude day or half day blocks. Equally important, we have been able to apply ‘what if’ scenarios, particularly around capacity-related numbers. It is in the nature of forecasting that the further you move into the future, the less valid the numbers become. With Orchestrate, we have been able to look at what the forecasters have been saying, and then apply a range of variations. Using spreadsheets it would take days to accommodate secondary or parallel processes, figuring what a schedule might look like, while another team is separately figuring our recruitment needs – everyone speculating from their own spreadsheets. Orchestrate has given us the clarity of vision we need.”

Conclusion

The company has been able to use Orchestrate’s modelling capabilities in two projects, each with multi million dollar implications.  All that from the same easy to use software they are using for their daily scheduling”.

Call us now to find out how Orchestrate production scheduling software could help your operation.

Why Schedule?

“Why schedule?” might seem a facile question in a manufacturing environment. After all, every manufacturer, to a greater or lesser degree, has to plan and schedule production. In fact, most simply scratch the surface.

For most, their MRP or production systems simply do not provide the level of detail they need to manage right down to their own process complexities. No account is taken of current available capacity or constraints. That’s why most companies end up ‘cooking their own soup’.  Over-stressed planners end up spending too much time working with Excel spreadsheets, flowcharts and manual work-arounds.
Even the simplest finished product can go through complex stages that compete for resources, stages that are time and sequence dependent. And every planner has to cope with the unexpected - machine breakdowns, bottlenecks, rework, rush orders, and key personnel not being available.

That’s why smart production scheduling software – used for day-to-day scheduling, capacity planning and ‘what if’ analysis – can deliver such remarkable results.

The short answer to “Why schedule” is that rather than having to invest in new plant, modern scheduling software helps manufacturers get more out of existing facilities.

Longer term it helps companies rationalise manufacturing. And as a bonus, it also reduces errors and increases the productivity of planning staff.

Let’s see how…

Production scheduling in the real world

Intelligent scheduling systems reflect the real world. Real world constraints such as machine availability, people, their skills, tool changes, technical support, colour sequencing and sterile hold times.
They recognise how batches mesh together, how products can take alternative routes in the production process and how multiple products can use the same facility. Here are some examples:

Sequencing

We will start with the batch footprint. At its simplest, a batch footprint is little more than a list of consecutive processes, often portrayed on planning charts as ‘floating chimneys’.



Modern production scheduling software goes much further. It can recognise that, for a single batch, the tasks have to occur on the same equipment. This is important because in a scheduling problem we need to view more than a single batch. We need to see how the batches mesh together.

What’s more, modern systems can manage multiple products in the same facility - different products, with a different batch footprint and a different choice of alternatives for routing. Real world.
And they can schedule all resources at the same time. Unlike most project management tools, intelligent production scheduling systems tell us what resources we need for each task and when they are needed. No conflicts.

Being able to manage complex sequencing, reducing the number of setups and making changes as circumstances dictate, all adds up to a significant improvement in plant and resource utilization.

Improved visibility

Effective production scheduling software can provide real visibility, across any number of planners and managers. Some systems can also integrate easily with existing ERP and planning systems, which means that planners are able to pick up feedback from execution systems with a live view of the production.
Such feedback alone can be sufficient justification for moving from Excel-type models to production scheduling systems. And KPIs can be built-in to ensure that whenever live decisions are made, any adverse ramifications are flagged up.

By defining views that are user-specific, smart scheduling systems can highlight different areas of the plan to different people. Views that automatically, when integrated with execution systems, keep pace with real time and highlight tasks that have been started, completed and so on.
Visibility of customer orders is a major tool that allows planners to improve on-time-in-full deliveries. And once companies feel more confident with the reliability of their planning data, it quickly becomes possible to improve lead times and cut WIP.

As an example, Cope Allman Jaycare users of our own Orchestrate production scheduling software have reported a reduction in WIP of 25% and a reduction in lead times of around 30%. Wastage has been cut significantly, simply because they now have fewer tool changes.

Taking the long view

Production scheduling systems can often be used to enhance longer term Capacity Planning, or Sales & Operations Planning – an area traditionally plagued with unrealistic and over confident plans.

The level of detail and deep understanding of specific production processes possible within smart scheduling systems makes ‘What if?’ scenario planning a reality.

Boosting planner productivity

Finally, breaking free from time consuming, inflexible and error-prone Excel-type scheduling, boosts planner productivity.

In the words of one of our own customers, Steve Brownlee, IT Director, Verna Group: “What used to take a whole day for a planner can now be accomplished in twenty minutes. That doesn’t just mean eliminating the hassle; it means we can afford to run alternative scenarios, knowing that built-in KPI alerts will keep us on track. All that from a system that cost one third the cost of competitive systems. A system implemented in just six weeks and getting absolute benefits.” 

Conclusion

ERP and production execution systems offer very real advantages to manufacturing companies. However, when it comes to complex scheduling – and even simple finished products can involve complex interactions, routings and resource constraints - they are too generic.

They cannot take cognizance of the each company’s very specialized interactions between operations and resource constraints. And they often fall at the first hurdle, unable to cope with infinite capacity planning.
In the real world, there is no finite capacity of machines, tooling, materials, labour or other resources. And in the real world, change is the only constant.

Advanced planning and scheduling software eliminates most of the hassle associated with semi-manual planning systems. It is responsive to change and is nimble enough to provide alternatives whenever unplanned constrains occur – always with a close eye on KPIs. That is why it is so valuable, squeezing the most out of existing resources. Improving operational performance as well as planner performance.
Visibility of customer orders allows planners to improve OTIF deliveries. And once companies feel more confident with the reliability of their scheduling, it quickly becomes possible to improve lead times and cut WIP.

Orchestrate boosts efficiencies and drives down WIP at Cope Allman Jaycare

Simple products often have to go through complicated manufacturing sequences. This is particularly true for Cope Allman Jaycare, Europe’s largest injection blow moulding experts.

When the company decided to adopt Orchestrate, from Production Modelling, to automate their production scheduling, they set themselves some ambitious objectives – all of which have been met. In the system’s first twelve months, Work in Progress has been cut by 25 per cent, On-Time-In-Full (OTIF) delivery performance improved, the number of tool changes has been reduced and materials wastage cut. All this with a smaller planning headcount that has managed to significantly improve customer lead-times.

Cope Allman Jaycare are global specialists in the design and manufacturing of rigid plastic packaging and are market leaders in the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare sectors. Their pharmaceutical packaging includes containers for prescription only and over the counter medications while, in the medical sector, products include specialist packaging for infection control, diagnostics, hospital supplies, medical devices and so on. A vast range with very different characteristics, colour ranges and configurations. To complicate the process further, many products have to conform to strict regulatory requirements.

Despite being the supplier of choice for many blue chip companies, Cope Allman Jaycare cannot rest on their laurels. Their customers demand a high quality product, good service and competitive pricing. With these points in mind, Cope Allman Jaycare looked to Orchestrate to help them make improvements to their production scheduling that would drive down the cost of manufacture.

   


The Challenge - Scheduling resources to maximise efficiency and cut wastage

The company employs a J D Edwards ERP solution for their computing needs but, like so many ERP users, found that comprehensive though they may be, they simply cannot cope with highly detailed scheduling requirements. For example, before adopting Orchestrate production scheduling software, planners had used spreadsheets to balance constraints when bringing together resources such as moulding tools, technical support for tool changes and ancillary equipment such as heaters. To reduce clean-down time, they had to accommodate colour sequence, from light to dark, and they had to consolidate different products to minimise tool changes and material wastage. Cap moulding had to be planned in line with the manufacture of containers and subsequent on-body printing, ready for cap mounting and the insertion of wadding.

There had to be a better way to schedule resources, so the company researched the market for a production scheduling software solution that would integrate easily with their other systems.

 

The Solution

“After researching the market and visiting users of different software solutions, we selected Orchestrate because it ticked all the boxes,” says Peter Teague, IT Director. “In particular, Orchestrate was the only solution that would support multiple planners in multiple locations. We have factories and planners in both Newcastle and Portsmouth and we wanted our planners, each looking after their own set of machines, to be able to use the system at the same time. Just as importantly, the people at Production Modelling impressed us with their understanding of how we worked and what we wanted to achieve.

Master data, such as product information, bill of materials, production routes and stock are all maintained within the JDE system. Orchestrate maintains the more detailed information required for scheduling, such as optimal colour sequencing and tooling information. Customer orders are input to JDE and then transferred automatically into Orchestrate for the more complex planning processes, with works orders automatically fed back to JDE. Both systems working seamlessly together eliminates unnecessary data entry and associated transcription errors. Orchestrate production scheduling software makes it a simple process that results in better sequencing and productivity increases.

According to Peter, the first year’s results were remarkable: “Three of our key performance objectives were to reduce work in progress, cut lead times and reduce wastage. Because we have so much more confidence in our scheduling, we don’t have to run so far ahead with production, which has resulted in a 25% reduction in WIP. Customers are delighted because lead times have now been cut from 6-8 week down to 4-6 weeks; much nearer the four week level and still improving. Wastage has been cut significantly simply because we now have fewer tool changes.”

“Other benefits include improved productivity from our packers, something in the order of 5%, which is quite significant. Our OTIF performance has improved from 92% to 97%. The important thing is, these are all quantifiable benefits.”

“We have also gained from less quantifiable improvements. As well as reducing planning headcount, they now have more time to take on extra responsibilities, such as procurement planning. Communications, both internally and externally have improved. The tool room can see schedules for themselves and can contribute directly – online self service. Being able to make changes directly into Orchestrate production scheduling software means fewer meetings. And pegging orders to purchase orders means we have been able to move more suppliers onto a Kanban approach, where they hold stocks for us and we call off on a daily basis. As to customer communications, we can make much better ‘available to promise’ commitments.”

Peter is confidently expecting more benefits from the system over the next twelve months, particularly in budgeting, partly by using ‘what if’ scenarios. Key Performance Indicators will also begin to play a more prominent role in planning and scheduling, which will help planners to recognise immediately the implications of any planning decision.

Last word from Peter: “ A great system and a marvelous group of people to work with. They really do understand our processes and are keen to help us find new ways to squeeze more out of the system.”

Free Scheduling Software

Production Modelling are proud to release the full version of Orchestrate (Standard) free production scheduling software for 14 days!

Simply complete the online form and you will be able to download the full working version of Orchestrate Standard free production scheduling software. You will then be emailed a license code activating the scheduling software for 14 days, free of charge!

Included within the installation is a ‘Demo_Manufacturing’ database that shows you how simple it can be to plan orders on the Gantt chart. A new Webinar has also been created demonstrating how to build the model in under 30 minutes.

Orchestrate (Standard) scheduling software allows you to create, import and store databases on your computer with multiple logins for different users. It’s simple, intuitive Gantt chart enables you to plan orders in seconds and communicate what needs to be done when and on what resource.

Orchestrate (Standard) scheduling software has a multitude of functionality that can be turned on or off as required, making it simple for you to focus on the real complexities within your business.

Alternatively, Production Modelling can demonstrate our free production scheduling software via a live WebEx.
Production Modelling are keen to hear from you and answer any questions you may have. Please contact us  to speak with one of our team.

Scheduling Software goes live in just six weeks!

Orchestrate Scheduling Software goes live in just six weeks – boosting planning performance at Vernagroup

Vernagroup is a remarkable Bolton-based company that has a mission to be global leaders in providing premier medical pulp products, macerators and complementary products and services to healthcare markets around the world. Their advanced manufacturing processes are key to delivering the most cost effective products to a demanding market sector in all five continents. Orchestrate has transformed the management and control of production - a painless implementation in record time.

There must be a better way of doing things!

“What used to take a whole day for a planner can now be accomplished in twenty minutes. That doesn’t just mean eliminating the hassle, it means we can afford to run alternative scenarios, knowing that built-in KPI alerts will keep us on track.”

Steve Brownlee, IT Director, Vernagroup

“Our production facilities are state-of-the-art for our industry, with patented innovative technology and robotics,” says Steve Brownlee, IT Director, Vernagroup. “Yet our planning systems were cumbersome and unwieldy, relying heavily on spreadsheets and burning a lot of midnight oil. There had to be a better way of doing things, so we decided to computerize the process. Our selection criteria were clear: a proven ‘out of the box’ system that is cost effective, easy to implement, easy to use, and not requiring lots of IT support.”

The project team looked at more than one solution and selected Production Modelling’s Orchestrate scheduling software. “We liked the fact that it was a modern system so, unlike its competitors, it is very intuitive in use,” Steve explains. “It’s also very ‘visual’, very well presented, which makes it so much easier to assess different planning scenarios.”

To reassure themselves, the team visited Steelite, another successful manufacturing company with similar production complexities. The management at Steelite were able to demonstrate that Orchestrate offered the benefits of a packaged solution that could quickly be customized – very cost effectively.

“One third the cost, implemented in six weeks and getting absolute benefits”

"It has been somewhat staggering,” Steve comments, “the capability of the software to deal with our complexity, and also how rapidly the team from Production Modelling could configure the system to match our environment. Most systems in this arena are tricky to use and hard to set up. Orchestrate took just a couple of days to learn. The team from Production Modelling got to grips with our processes – from raw materials to finished product -within days, and were able to demonstrate a ‘first draft’ system configured to our production processes within two weeks. After our critique, they came back with the finished product.”

“We have gone from signing off a purchase order to delivering a fully functional solution that delivers absolute benefits in only six weeks!"

“... and that in a situation where we have spent around one third of the cost of the nearest rival solution.”

So, what are the benefits?

Steve describes the benefits: “We use Orchestrate for both strategic and day-to-day capacity planning. Looking two, three, four years ahead, we can assess capacity, any potential restrictions, storage requirements and any demand for additional production capability. At a detailed level, we are able to plan weekly and day-to-day production to meet sales forecasts and to maintain appropriate stock levels to service NHS and other customers. Our products are crucial to the effective running of hospital or private care facilities.”

“What used to take a whole day for a planner can now be accomplished in twenty minutes. That doesn’t just mean eliminating the hassle, it means we can afford to run alternative scenarios, knowing that built-in KPI alerts will keep us on track.”

“Specific products have to be dedicated to certain production lines, while other lines can accommodate mixed products. Add to that the need to minimize the changing of tool heads and you can begin to appreciate the complexity. Orchestrate scheduling software allows us to manage and police which products run on which lines and for how long, maximizing efficiency and throughput.”

“The system also takes into account planned downtime for regular servicing. Our aggressive growth plan mean we will shortly are looking to increase our operations. Our strategic planning shows us how well Orchestrate will be able to accommodate that.”

Last word from Steve: “It has been a painless experience and I can be confident that the users really are self sufficient. Orchestrate will never be a drain on IT resources. It has also been refreshing to work with such a focused supplier. People who are very passionate about their solutions and who can also be pragmatic. When they say they will deliver – they really do.”

Why Use Simulation Software

We at Production Modelling are often asked "How can I best run the factory to achieve my business objectives yet at the same time, meet customer demands?" Manufacturers are continually being asked to increase production volumes in less time with less people and for less money. Trying new ideas out in the factory are all very well, but they can take time, be disruptive, very costly, and you may not get it right first time. Today’s managers can’t afford to take such risks when implementing change.

Experimenting with new ideas on a computer model before you make changes for real is simple common sense. It takes the risk out of change. This is where simulation software users have gained a competitive edge, an advantage that results in bottom-line benefits to their business.


Why not flowcharts or process mapping?

Many organisations use static modelling tools, such as flowcharts, process mapping, and spreadsheets. Flowcharts and process mapping tools have their place, but on their own, they merely show relationships between processes and generally don’t provide any quantitive performance measures.


Why not spreadsheets?

 Spreadsheets are very useful, and do have their place, but also have serious limitations.

• They are static models. This means that they cannot represent changes that occur with respect to time.
• They are deterministic – using constant values, approximations or averages rather than the variability that exists in real life.
• They can’t represent interdependencies. In other words, process steps are independent of each other. Again, a serious deficiency, as this limits the validity of the models.

At best, spreadsheets can give misleading results, and in many cases wildly inaccurate predictions. At worst, business decisions can be made on entirely inaccurate information. It’s no surprise that companies often wonder why the results from their spreadsheet models don’t match reality.

Here’s a simple illustration to prove why simulation is so important:

Picture a small cell where parts arrive on average every 30 seconds, queue for Machine1 or Machine 2, each of which takes on average of 1 minute to process

A spreadsheet model of this would show no queuing, 100% utilisation of the workstations, and average lead-time of 1 minute. In other words, a nicely balanced system.

Look what happens if we use variability. A normal, (bell-shaped), distribution of the same averages would be a more realistic way of representing the variability that exists in the real world.

Using a simulation model, running the process for just 8 hours, the results show a completely different (but more accurate) story. The machine utilisation is less than 100%, there are up to 13 jobs queuing for the machines, and the average lead time is over 5 minutes!!!

Imagine the difference in a more complex process, or if the process runs for a week or a month.

Click here to request a copy of this Model.


Why use Simulation Software?

This is why simulation software is so important. Simulation, and only simulation, takes into account the combined effect of variability, uncertainty, and complex interdependencies between processes
Production Modelling's simulation software is helping companies improve their businesses and become more competitive. Increasingly competitive markets bring new challenges and customers' demands are constantly changing. As a result, manufacturers need to become more responsive, more quickly, more efficiently, yet often within tighter budgets and timescales.

Production Modelling's simulation software is helping them to visualize, analyse and optimise their processes to achieve these business performance improvements.

Furthermore, simulation software is often used to help “sell” ideas to others to gain their commitment to change and show why one method will work better than another. The visual accuracy and animation of the model can provide a powerful communications tool. It can help speed up decisions affecting changes in the factory, and get people from the shop floor through to senior management all committed to the same ideas.

Capacity Planning / Production Scheduling within the Pharmaceutical Industry

Production Modelling’s flagship scheduling software system, Orchestrate, has become firmly established within the process industry and many users in the pharmaceutical industry have seen great success in its deployment.

Orchestrate assists with two areas of work where purpose built tools are few and far between. To begin with, it provides the process engineer with a user friendly tool for capacity analysis. Secondly, having invested much time and money in plant design, the same Orchestrate model can then be used for daily production scheduling and planning.

Orchestrate has seen an equal amount of success when integrated into plant design programmes and also as part of a programme to identify and solve bottleneck problems in existing, well established plants.

One of the world’s largest bio-pharmaceutical capital investments - Pfizer BioPharma Campus, West Dublin

Reduce Time To Market

There is much reference material with regards to process knowledge management as a method of accelerating time to market. In summary, if we could utilise that same data at the design stage, pilot stage and the commercial production stage, then there would be much to gain.

Orchestrate scheduling software extends this argument by providing a common dataset and interface for each individual stage of the production process. With Orchestrate scheduling software the plant can be operated identical assumptions and constraints to those used at the design stage.

As a result, another major advantage of using Orchestrate is that the software system can hold process templates for particular products and processes. Thus the company’s intellectual property can then be reused for the latest products and new plants. In effect, we would not need to “reinvent the wheel” every time we use the system. So, through using Orchestrate for new plant design, plant modification and daily planning, the plant design process can be accelerated and, therefore, we can decrease the time to market. Read more…….

Barclays Cycle Hire Utilises Simulation and Scheduling Software from Production Modelling

Company: Serco

The extremely complex logistics behind the redistribution effort for 6,000 bikes around 400 docking stations involving over 10,000 docking points, with enormous ebbs and flows of demand over the course of each day, is a huge challenge. Over the first six months of operation, Barclays Cycle Hire members pedalled the equivalent of ‘13 times the distance to the moon and back’ – over 10 million kilometres in 2.5 million journeys. Production Modelling have been working in conjunction with the service provider, Serco, to highlight the best methods of managing the redistribution of bikes, both now and as the scheme expands – with amazing results.

The Challenge - Moving Complexity Away From The Point Of Delivery

It is important to understand the vast scale of the operation. Fifteen per cent of the demand during each day takes place over just one hour, between 8.00 am and 9.00 am, involving around 3,000 cycle hires. A large proportion of this activity is generated by commuters who are arriving at mainline rail stations. With an average hire time of 20 minutes, each bike is re-docked across a extremely wide area, particularly concentrated in the city. In order to maintain high customer service standards, these cycles have to be redistributed to the high volume demand locations as fast as possible. At the end of the working day, the flow reverses and commuters making up the majority of users, expect availability of bikes close to their workplace. All this activity is carried out against stringent Key Performance Indicators which are designed to allow the hire experience to be as simple and as efficient as possible for members.

Modelling and Simulation

Graham Bright, Customer Experience Manager at Serco, joined the project in April 2010 and quickly identified the role that planning, modelling and simulation software systems could perform in making informed decisions. A highly detailed tender document was prepared and Production Modelling’s Service Model simulation software was chosen from a shortlist of three systems. According to Graham, the proposal from Production Modelling demonstrated the best functionality and most cost effective performance. The truly unique aspect, though, was an extra software solution, Orchestrate, that takes the user beyond simulation into visualisation.

Service Model assists Serco in working out the efficiency of their redistribution vehicle operation, while Orchestrate enables them to observe the reasons why various areas are performing differently. They can operate ‘what if’ scenarios which are based on validated data.
The system also enables them to feed a real day’s data to simulations, including the quantities and types of redistribution vehicles, where they had been allocated, and the various tasks assigned to them. Managers can then observe performance in terms of the amount of traffic at docking stations, running simulations with data they know they can trust. From there, it is easy to extrapolate the implications of, say, a 25,000 or a 30,000 hire day. Read more…….

Burbidge Short Case Study - Pro-Model Simulation Software is not just for Large Companies

Production Modelling, a leading provider of cutting edge simulation, planning and scheduling software and consultancy, based in the UK, wishes to congratulate Burbidge & Son Ltd on their exceptional application of the ProModel Simulation Software, for which it has also been acknowledged, as a highly commended case study, by MCS magazine.

As all businesses continually strive to meet rising market demands and improve overall performance, change has become obligatory. However, testing out new ideas in an operational environment – whether it’s the shop floor, warehouse or office - can be time consuming, disruptive, and also very expensive, especially if the new ideas don’t work first time. Similarly, very few businesses can afford for investment in new equipment to fail to deliver the expected benefits. The solution, which is now being implemented by businesses of all sizes, and from diverse industries such from general manufacturing to pharmaceutical and food processing, is to first test new ideas using ProModel Simulation Software.

Burbidge, a well established manufacturer of high-quality kitchens and SME, has discovered that using its ProModel Simulation software system to fully assess production process change ideas and research investment decisions, delivers exceptional benefits; negating many the potential risk involved and significantly improving the decision making process. Also, although ProModel is considered to be one of the most advanced systems in the field of dynamic simulation modelling, the software has proven to be very cost effective and has been very easily implemented.
As Graham Heaven, Burbidge's financial director, observes, "Often, companies make process change or investment decisions based on gut feel, or on simplified and inaccurate assessments, and then wonder why these changes fail to meet expectations. Yet, as we have found, the tools for making important operational decisions based on realistic data are now readily available, easy to use, and only need a relatively small investment - especially compared to the potentially enormous cost of getting it wrong."

It doesn't matter what size the company may be, simulation should be an integral part of their decision making process, whether it's operational – e.g. adding new machinery, redesigning layouts, factory or warehouse extension, introduction of new products, introducing new production methods, re-engineering a process or strategic – e.g. can the business justify a capital investment, will it produce the desired performance improvement? How can our supply chain be streamlined?

The cost of Pro-Model Simulation software is minimal in comparison with the potential benefits and rapid return on investment. Increasingly, businesses cannot afford to risk making bad decisions. It's common sense really – you have to ask the question - why wouldn't you use simulation before making operational and strategic decisions? Read more.....

Production Modelling are proud to announce the release of Orchestrate Version 6.0 Advanced Planning and Scheduling Software

Orchestrate Version 6 Advanced Planning and Scheduling Software assists you in making more comprehensive plans and in being even more productive. This state of the art software now includes built in constructs for planning inventory levels, demand management and product expiration. Features like the new shift pattern editor and a Gantt chart that automatically scrolls (to display progress against a plan) have been designed to allow increased productivity. Orchestrate is now faster than ever and, to ensure that Orchestrate remains responsive, you can archive your finished tasks.

Read more about Orchestrate version 6 Advanced Planning and Scheduling software and download our "What's new in Orchestrate Version 6?" pdf document by visiting our website at www.simulation.co.uk/news/whats-new-in-orchestrate-version-6.0.html

Printronix – ProModel Simulation Software Case Study

Summary

Printronix was suffering lost business due to an inability to fully meet customers shipping needs. The solution to shipping more quickly was, with the aid of an in-depth analysis exercise using a ProModel simulation software model, to construct an inventory of high level generic "printer plains". This inventory of generic "printer plains" allowed Printronix to configure and dispatch printers within three days of order receipt.

Case Study

Printronix standard manufacturing process was initially, to construct a printer from the ground up upon receipt of a customer order. The product lead time on a printer from order confirmation to time of shipment was, on average, 18 working days. The customer’s normal expectations were for their order to be shipped within 7 days. In an effort to meet these customers expectations, completed printers were built and inventoried based on a master scheduling forecast. It was discovered that the selection and quantity were not always sufficient to immediately meet the demand. In order to achieve complete customer satisfaction Printronix would need to accumulate three times the existing completed printer inventory.

Printronix then made the decision to construct a printer to it's highest generic level and then hold it in a kanban. Upon receipt of a customer order, the printer plain could then be very quickly, individually configured and made ready for shipment. This was achieved by dividing the printer manufacturing process into two separate stages: printer plain assembly and final printer configuration. A computer generated simulation was designed to model this process and to determine what quantity of the five printer plain assemblies would be needed to support the 110 different configurations of top level printer.

The outcome of the simulation software model exercise lead Printronix to a printer plain kanban size that cost 60% less than creating a completed printer inventory. They then carried out the changes and the outcome was almost exactly that which the computer simulation model had predicted.

Lead time was dramatically reduced from 18 days, down to 3 days. Completed goods inventory was completely eliminated and a floor controlled just-in-time delivery process was implemented.Read more…

Walkers Snack Foods Ltd Simulation Software Case Study

Simulation Modelling, performed by Coventry-based Production Modelling, has been a major factor in both the successful delivery, and the on-going management, of an extended warehouse and distribution premises for Walkers Snack Foods Ltd.

The ever expanding snack food market, and the capability to gain an increasing portion of this market, in part due to some high profile marketing, has seen Walkers Snack Foods Ltd enjoy major business growth for the past few years. However, this growth has also meant that major new demands have been placed on its UK operations. To deal with these new demands, the company - which is now joined with the global giant PepsiCo Inc - has performed a considerable programme of upgrading and extension of manufacturing and distribution facilities. One of the recently completed major projects in this programme, an essential element in the business's remodelling of its distribution capabilities, has delivered an enormous warehouse extension at Walkers' Leicester based factory and warehousing facility.

Adding storage was just one of the necessities for this development. The project also had to enable operational process improvements in terms of picking efficiency and throughput, and so allow the output capability of the whole Leicester site to keep up with requirements. Therefore, in order to ensure that the end design solution was able to meet these requirements, Walkers, and their project partner, the warehouse solution provider Swisslog, decided to undertake a simulation modelling exercise, and approached the UK simulation software specialists, Production Modelling. As a result, not only has the modelling helped to prove the design concept, it has also enabled a detailed process analysis that has meant direct project savings. Additionally, a detailed simulation software generated model has also been developed that is currently being utilised by Walkers as an ongoing operational management and training tool.

Orchestrate planning and scheduling software at Steelite International

Although to some it would appear that the potteries is yet another industry sector that has been all but lost to overseas production, Steelite is one company that is not only thriving, but is also successfully developing its Stoke-on-Trent based production premises to cope with increasing global demand.

Upon recognising that in order to meet growth, better utilisation of existing facilities is required, the firm's latest action has been to replace it’s complicated, traditional spreadsheet based production planning, and invest in the Orchestrate planning and scheduling software system from Production Modelling.

It is fairly obvious that most UK manufacturers of ceramic tableware are facing a ferociously competitive business climate. All over the world, retail sales of china and earthenware is pretty much static, and the UK market has experienced a major decline over the last few years. The UK has previously enjoyed a far more favourable trade balance in china and earthenware but this has been waning steadily since 1998, and this decline is now being compounded as more of the remaining major UK sellers outsource their production overseas in an attempt to cut costs.

However, one section of the worldwide tableware market sector remains resilient, the hospitality sector. One UK company in a strong position in this sector is Steelite International. This company is an exclusive production and supply business, of tabletop products to the hospitality industry, and via a consistent programme of product innovation, together with exceptional product quality, the company is not only able to continually set high standards for strength and style, but has also managed to turn this into respectable sales growth.

This growing success has also delivered its share of challenges. In particular, this level of success has put extreme pressure on the company’s Stoke on Trent manufacturing facility to meet these demands. Yet, rather than simply aiming to outsource production, the company has addressed its manufacturing shortcomings and is now working towards eliminating any recognised manufacturing inefficiencies, and raise its performance.

One major area Steelite International is enjoying great success in tackling, is production planning and control. Up until just a few years ago, this was considered to be something of a black art. In fact, the manual system used at that time was so ineffective that it was accepted that any plans created were not realistically achievable; 'people just rolled their sleeves up and did the best they could.'

However, with a brand new management team who acknowledged that any future growth could be stalled by the lack of ability to plan products effectively through production, Steelite International has managed to rapidly advance in overcoming this problem. Read more…..

Case Study: CORUS Construction & Industrial

A Model Investment

Upon seeking justification for a major investment, Corus Construction and Industrial has discovered that the ProModel simulation software, from Production Modelling, has proven itself to be a vital new decision making tool.

For all businesses in the manufacturing sector, making the correct investment decision has always been a difficult task. But, in the current business climate, pin-pointing the right options in terms of new plant and equipment, has become seriously daunting. Businesses can no longer afford to simply make the assumption that new technology will deliver improvements and, unfortunately, any errors of judgment can quickly prove much more costly than the actual amount invested.

Therefore, it has become essential that before any investment decision is made, both the financial returns and measurable performance improvements are calculated as accurately as is possible, and the case for investment acknowledged and verified at every level. One method of achieving this is to carry out experiments and evaluation of any new equipment using a computer model generated using simulation software, before making the actual investment.

ProModel simulation software provides the ability to assess the effects of new equipment on key performance criteria, assisting with identification of financial and performance improvements, and will also effectively compare alternative investment options. As such, this approach can remove much of the risk factor from any investment.

Read more…….

Production Planning at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

Modern production planning software tools provide vital decision support for pharmaceutical process design whilst streamlining production.

Planning and scheduling software solutions have major significance in the pharmaceuticals industry sector. Complicated processes, raw materials management, cost, value and the rate of development and change all come together to allow these technologies a particular place in strategic capacity planning, supply chain planning and also operationally to streamline resource usage and production throughput.

As Mike Straiton, Director at specialist planning and scheduling software company, Production Modelling, says: "When a pharmaceuticals company considers designing a factory, it not only needs to ensure that it has the capacity to meet the weekly demand, but also that it has the flexibility to accommodate developments pre-production. That means ensuring installation of all the correct equipment in the correct locations at the right time - as well as its efficient use when it comes to scheduling batches of product".

"That's where we come in with our Orchestrate production planning software. We use Orchestrate to look at supply chain processes before they become a problem. Businesses need to plan work now for drugs that may go to market a long way into the future," explains Straiton. "So companies like Wyeth Pharmaceuticals use our systems to help them understand their future global supply chain requirements. Based on estimated market demand, plant production capability, capacity and cost, they can then use Orchestrate to optimise the supply chain to ensure achievement of demand at minimum cost. Individual plants can then use the same software for day-to-day production scheduling."

Brian Kielty, Vaccine Planning Manager at the Grange Castle site of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in Ireland, says that this is extremely important for his business as it operates in the biotech end of the pharmaceuticals industry, which invariably sees complex, high value production in expensive manufacturing facilities - the investment in the Grange Castle site is over $2 billion.

"Orchestrate production planning software has been invaluable in understanding the dynamics of how the many sections of the organisation interact with each other," he says.

"The software is utilised all across the various levels of our business, from strategic long term capacity planning to everyday operational planning and scheduling."

"We have many validated cGMP systems such as SAP, LIMS, and specifically tailored weigh and dispense systems, to support production, but their current limitation is finite scheduling," explains Kielty.

"These systems enable the tracking of the current status of material and operations throughout the whole manufacturing process, but are less effective in capturing constraints such as skilled personnel, equipment and process cycle times that must be considered to carry out a work plan in a timely manner."

"Orchestrate production planning software has been vital for closing the gap between these systems and providing feasible, robust schedules for supervisors and managers to carry out their respective tasks. Longer term, we believe that integrated finite schedules will considerably improve our performance, reduce variability and aid overall process time improvements."

The Benefits of Orchestrate Production Scheduling and Planning Software

Orchestrate production scheduling software provides a user friendly, value for money, planning and scheduling solution for developing key business targets - from Supply Chain Optimisation (SCO) to Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) for the shop floor. It provides a realistic alternative to using complex ERP modules or simplified spreadsheets.

In a competitive market sector, there is a constant, high amount of pressure to execute a continuous improvement strategy. From the top level, businesses must constantly assess their supply chain planning, regularly reviewing which factory units or which production lines are necessary. At the production level, businesses must constantly measure factory performance to schedule and manage the factory as effectively as possible. The necessity to plan and systematically review the plan's underlying assumptions, has never been more paramount.

However, this drive for constant improvement is made increasingly difficult by one key factor - the scarcity of effective planning tools. Despite the industry wide adoption of ERP systems, when it comes down to planning and scheduling most businesses find wide gaps in their central system functionality. Most businesses acknowledge that this problem exists. An assessment of any recent IT industry survey, will reveal that businesses are either aiming to squeeze more out of their existing systems, or looking for answers outside of their existing, internal systems.

The end result is that although they have made largescale investments in IT, key planning and scheduling activities are still performed by hand on a planning board or using a simple spreadsheet. Spreadsheets can quickly become overcomplicated and difficult for anyone else but the author to understand and it can begin to take an increasingly longer amount of time to produce next week's plan.

Despite the problems with this approach, managers are under the impression that specialist planning modules are excessively complex in terms of integration and application, offer poor value for money and that the less tailored planning systems are inappropriate.

Problems with spreadsheet systems often include:

• a tendency to be over complicated
• the requirement for a specialist user
• time consuming
• lack of plan visibility

People continue to use these methods because:

• there is no perceived cost advantage in a state of the art, specialist planning module
• the less specifically tailored planning systems are not appropriate for the job
• features are required that do not exist in planning systems

Orchestrate planning and scheduling software reverses this argument. Production Modelling has produced a cost-effective and user friendly solution that can specifically assist any buisness in numerous areas of planning and scheduling.

With the latest version of Orchestrate, we have developed a solution that offers a viable alternative.

Production Modelling’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling software solution, Orchestrate, helps Verna Group with both strategic and day-to-day capacity planning.

Vernagroup is an outstanding Bolton-based company with a mission to be a leading company, globally, in supplying premier medical pulp products, macerators and associated products and services to the healthcare industry sector worldwide. Their state of the art manufacturing processes are vital in the delivery of the most cost effective products to a competitive market sector in all five continents. Orchestrate planning and scheduling software has transformed the management and control of production - a coordinated and streamlined implementation in next to no time.

Steve Brownlee, IT Director with Vernagroup, had this to say:

“What used to take a whole day for a planner can now be accomplished in twenty minutes. That doesn’t just mean eliminating the hassle, it means we can afford to run alternative scenarios, knowing that built-in KPI alerts will keep us on track.”

Read more.......

Production Modelling Ltd - "Coventry at Work" on the BBC.

The BBC will be following the progress of Production Modelling Ltd over the next year as part of their "Coventry at work: Tracking Coventry's companies" feature.

Follow this link to find out more on the BBC News website.

Mike Straiton has recently appeared on the BBC News. Production Modelling Ltd are also on the BBC News website where they are appearing in reference to Coventry acting as a barometer for the country, with regards to business.

The economy in Coventry has changed enormously in the last 2 decades, but manufacturing is still a major concern in the city with automobile manufacture making up a significant percentage of the industry.

Another area of recent growth is that of knowledge-based, hi-tech companies such as Production Modelling Ltd with the recent revision of their Orchestrate Planning and Scheduling software to version 6.0

We will be periodically updating the blog alongside the BBC feature throughout the year.

Production Modelling Ltd - Planning and Scheduling with Orchestrate

Welcome to a whole new world of process improvement opportunities!

State-of-the-art, easy-to-use planning software, scheduling software and simulation software, process flow optimisation, modelling and planning tools combined with decades of experience guarantee a step-change success, 100% of the time!

Introduction to Simulation
Improve productivity, increase efficiency, eliminate waste, reduce lead times, minimise Work In Progress, optimise stock levels and cut costs, accelerate the implementation of Lean Six Sigma improvement initiatives. Whatever your objectives, our unique approach removes risk, takes the guesswork out, smooths implementation and helps you make the best decision, faster.

Orchestrate is state of the art, easy to use planning and scheduling software. It is perfect for production scheduling, capacity planning, and bottleneck analysis.

Learn more by visiting our website.